Widowed, remarried, she now lives with great challenges.
Spent 100 days waking up, alone, in her home.
She gets up, gets ready, and drives 30 minutes to a rehab facility...where she spends up to 12 hours a day with her husband: pushing him, feeding him, washing him, dressing him, shaving him, monitoring his care, checking his meds.
Hours of no response to her conversation.
She tucked him in every night, and drove over 30 minutes to their home...alone...where she washed his clothes, paid the bills, ate a meal...alone.
She tries to sleep...because she knows that, in the morning, she will have to do it all again.
More than anything, she wants to be able to care for her husband in their home...but she wants the best for him...even if she isn’t the one who can provide it.
So yesterday, she moved him into a nursing home.
And, again, she went home alone.
Lots of chatter on social media about strong women today...and what we’re told that looks like.
I’m here to suggest that sometimes it’s easy to lose sight of what we thought would be or could be...because we are deep in the reality of what IS...head down, plowing ahead, seeking God, serving others, doing that next right thing.
Sometimes the difference we make on this earth is in our every day lives...in our homes, with our people, and with others along our path who bear witness to the lives we live.
She would be the first to tell you that she is not enough...but Jesus is; that she doesn’t have the energy, the strength, the discipline, the wisdom, or the internal fortitude to do all she does on a daily basis...but Jesus does.
On this day, with people acknowledging famous women who have and are making a difference in our world...I choose this ordinary wife, mother, grandmother, friend: my Dad's wife.
Doing the hard, inspiring others. Every day.
"But if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed but let him glorify God in having that name." 1 Peter 4:16
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